


The Wounds We Bare

by Localcryptid420



Series: Mending wounds [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Adorable Baby Yoda (The Mandalorian TV), Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, That's Not How The Force Works, The Force Ships It
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-08
Updated: 2020-06-13
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:41:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,111
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24515566
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Localcryptid420/pseuds/Localcryptid420
Summary: It had been two weeks since they had left Nervarro. Two blissful week of Celeste believing that the only thing she would have to worry about was training the child, and building her relationships with Din. However when an attack reveals that Celeste has a large bounty on her head she and Din must track down whoever is behind it while dodging an increasing number of bounty hunters and keeping the child, and each other, safe.
Relationships: Baby Yoda & The Mandalorian (The Mandalorian TV), Baby Yoda (The Mandalorian TV) & Original Character(s), The Mandalorian (The Mandalorian TV)/Original Female Character(s)
Series: Mending wounds [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1765966
Kudos: 15





	1. New beginnings

**Author's Note:**

> Well here we are again. I have to say I didn't think I would be starting this so soon, but everything just sort of fell into place so here we go. Before we get started I'd like to makes a few notes. First is that I'm going to be dropping the whole Din's perspective thing, I felt like I wasn't writing it very well. Second is that updates for this fic are probably going to be much slower. I'll try to update at least once a week, but I want to really take my time with these chapters and make sure they are the best they can be. And that's it, I hope you enjoy :)

Cel sat on the ramp of the _Razor Crest_ with her knees tucked beneath her, slowly breathing in and out. Feeling the force moving around the environment had always put her at peace, and it was no different this time. Relaxing a bit more she reached out to the presence next to her, or rather the one that _had_ been next to her. Cracking an eye open she let out a groan at the sight of the now empty space. A quick sweep of the field in front of the ship revealed the child all to happily chasing down a frog. Cel couldn't help but smile at the sight, then sighed and stood up.

She had been trying to teach him more about meditation and shielding, key word was trying. He wasn't very intrested, preferring to play move the toy or go wandering off and explore whatever planet they were on. Cel could understand, sitting quietly in one place for hours on end wasn't the most entertaining thing in the universe. Maker knows she hadn't exactly been eager when it had come to her own training with this. She knew he would catch on eventually, she just needed to stay patience. 

Cel walked over to him and smiled as he stared up at her innocently. "I take it we're done with training today _pika_ ,"he just grinned up at her and started chasing the frog again. Cel sighed again, but just followed along keeping an eye on him.

As Cel slowly walked behind him she looked around the area they set down in. This planet was beautiful, with most of it being covered in huge trees that held gorgeous purple leaves and had silver bark. The meadow Din had managed to find and set down in was no less beautiful, long blue grass swaying in the wind, dotted with so many flowers in so many different colors she didn't even know where to begin. It looked like a place that would have come from the fairytale stories her _numa_ use to tell her.

After a few more minutes of walking and watching the child try to catch the poor thing she scoped him up and said,"How about I make you something that won't try to run away?" He giggled at her before squirming to get down, and started running, or rather waddling, back to the ship. Cel only shook her head and followed, but as she walked with him up the ramp she suddenly felt uneasy. She stopped and turned around to look over the meadow again, but she didn't see anything. Rolling her shoulders, Cel chalked it up to the fact that Din wasn't back yet before heading into the ship to get her and the child some dinner.

After dinner had been eaten and dishes were clean she had about two hours before the child would be ready for bed, so she decided to play one of his favorite games. She had barely set the toy on the floor before he began moving it towards him with a look of concentration. Cel laughed softly before adding a bit of resistance with the force. He only grew more focused and eventually got the toy over to himself, looking incredibly proud. She sat down in front of him with a warm smile,"That was very good _pika_. How about we try again."

That's how they passed the time, with him pulling the toy and her adding a bit of resistance. As he pulled the toy to himself one last time he let out a huge yawn and rubbed his eye. Gently stroking his ear she said,"Bedtime already, huh." He just sleepily reached up towards her, so she picked him up and she placed the child in his bassinet. Cel knew he would sleep without a story so she lifted two of his toys with the force and had them act out the story of how she had escaped the pirates, which was quickly becoming his favorite. About half way through she saw the child's eyes slip shut and his breathing evened out. Cel placed the two toys back in his bassinet and stared at him with a smile on her face. She reached out and stroked his ear again, smiling even wider as he let out an adorable noise and snuggled into his bed more.

Cel could hardly believe they had been traveling together over a month now. Could hardly belive she had been training him for a month now. She could remember when he had trouble just moving the toy at all and now he could pull it to him from across the cargo bay.

Cel felt her smile faltered as she wondered if she was doing enough. He was growing more powerful everyday, and had abilities that she didn't. Abilities she had no idea how to train him in. Cel found herself wishing, not for the first time, that Ezal were still here. She had always been more in tune with the force and would probably have a better idea on how to help him.

Shaking her head she stood and decided a little meditation would help settle her mind. Sitting by the ramp she sat with her knees tucked under her and waited for Din to return. Despite her best efforts she found her thoughts wandering anyways. 

It had been two weeks since they had left Nervarro with a bundle of new bounty's for Din to track, given to him Greef. Once he heard what had happened on the trip he had apologized profusely and swore he had no idea how the pirates had found out about the shipment. Cel had simply waved him off and told him it was probably just an unlucky coincidence, which sounded weak even to her ears. Greef hadn't seemed to convinced either, but just told her that they had a free room here anytime they needed a place to stay. 

The next two days had been rather slow and quiet, with both her and Din eager to head out again, but they wanted to wait for Cara to come back so they could give her a proper goodbye. It had been nice, being able to just lounge around. No bounties to worry about, no planets to jump to, but Cel had felt herself starting to go stir crazy. By the time Cara had made it back the ship was packed and they were ready to go. Cel felt a little bad with how eager she was to leave, but Cara had just waved her off and said that she understood. "Besides,"she had added,"Din is a fast worker, I have a feeling we're all going to be seeing each other again soon." Clasping Din's arms, then her's, she had wished them luck and headed back to the cantina.

Cel shook her head and focused, eventually slipping into a meditative state. After a few hours she figured Din probably wouldn't be back till tomorrow and opted to go to bed. Standing up Cel stretched and checked on the child before heading to their room and found herself smiling as she opened the door.

The first night back on the ship Cel had been ready to return to her cot, pretty sure Din would want some privacy so he could remove his helmet, he had been wearing it for over a week after all, but he had hovered around her in his 'I want to ask you something, but I don't know how to say it' way. After a few minutes of watching him shift his weight and try to get out a full sentence, Cel had pity on him and asked if she could move some of her stuff to his room. He had almost visibly sagged in relief and nodded. After everything was in its place he had practically dragged her on the bed and had all to happily curled around her. She had only grinned into his chest and laced their fingers together. The big bad mandalorian was an absolute cuddle bug, who would have guessed. 

Pulling her nightshirt on, Cel grabbed the holopad and scrolled through it until her eyelids began to droop. Put in away she turned off the lights and rolled onto her side. With her hand resting on Din's empty side of the bed she closed her eyes and started to drift.

The next day was rather slow, Din still wasn't back but Cel wasn't to concerned. He would probably be back by tonight. After breakfast she decided to do a bit of cleaning, with the child's help of course. She organized the supply crates and re-stacked them with the force. The child would occasionally wander over to hand her some obscure item, like a lose screw or an empty wrapper. Cel always took it with very serious face and she thanked him, making a show of putting somewhere very important which had him giggling and waddling off to find more 'treasures'.

By about midday Cel was done with moving in general. It had gotten so unbelievably hot and humid that she had just laid on the cool floor of the ship and prayed that death would find her.

Okay so maybe that was a bit dramatic, but she hated humid heat. She could handle dry heat, but humid heat was a whole other ballpark that she didn't want to be in, but here she was. In the hot, humid ballpark, and it sucked.

Rolling onto her stomach she saw the child sitting outside the crest, lazily rolling the metal ball around. He didn't seem quite as bothered by the heat, but was staying in the shade and also trying to move as little as possible. Cel sat there feeling miserable for a few more minutes before perking up at an idea. She had seen a river not to far from where they had set down, it was probably only about ten minutes away. They could head down and cool off for a bit. Pushing herself onto her feet she dug some towels out from one of the boxes, grabbed the com Din had given her, and strapped her holster around her waist.

Stepping outside if the ship she crinkled her nose at how much more humid it was out here, before picking up a confused looking child and saying,"Well _pika_ , how bout we go for a swim?" He tilted his head and only looked more confused. Cel laughed softly and started in the direction of the river telling him,"Don't worry, you'll like it." She decided to forego the bassinet and just carry him, it wasn't that far.

As they walked through the woods the child made soft, excited noises, eagerly peering at the world around them. His ears were wiggling in excitement and he would occasionally reach out towards a particularly interesting plant or rock. Cel made sure to stop each time he wanted and let him look over whatever had caught his interest. It took them a bit longer to reach the river, but she didn't mind.

Once they did arrive, she paused and found herself staring at the crystal clear water in surprise. Cel was pretty sure she had never seen water this clear before, well not non purified water anyways. Stripping down to her undershirt, and placing the blaster and com within grabbing range, she removed the child's outfit and medallion. After checking to make sure the water wouldn't be to cold for him she sat down on the shore with him in her lap, the water reaching up to her waist. He was absolutely ecstatic as it settled around his legs, squealing happily, and slapping his hands in it. Cel let herself relax, feeling much better. The water was perfect, cool enough to make her forget the heat, but not freezing.

They couldn't have been there more then a half an hour when a group of curious fish swam a bit closer to her submerged legs. The child immediately stopped splashing and focusing on them with a look she, unfortunately, knew all to well. Before he could shove anymore foreign creatures into his mouth Cel stood up, walked over to the towels, and started drying them off. The child pouted up at her, but kept still as she dried and dressed him. She didn't want to leave this little oasis either, but she supposed it was her own fault for not bringing a lunch. So with a promise that they would be back after they had eaten she started walking them back to the ship.

The child was far less interested in what was going on around then, no doubt eager to get back and eat. Cel just stroked his ear fondly before a shiver crawl down her spine and the hair on the back of her neck stood up. Cel was tucking him close and rolling forward before she even realized what she was doing. Hearing a loud thud behind her, she turned to see a large metal net where she had just been. Not wasting any time Cel started running to the ship, jumping over logs and zigzagging between the trees. She felt another warning claw at the back of her mind and managed to dive behind some rocks just as another net sailed past her and wrapped around one of the trees.

Keeping the child tucked close she grabbed the com and said,"Mando we have a situation at the ship. How soon can you get back?" He didn't take more then a few seconds to respond,"I'm almost back. What kind of situation?"

Cel poked her head up only to slam it back down as something whistled past her head and embedded itself into a log. She grimaced at the sight of a tranquilizer dart. Last time they had been involved it hadn't been very pleasant, and she really didn't want a repeat. Rolling onto her feet she started running to the ship again before answering,"The kind where people are chasing you with nets and a tranq gun." She heard Din let out a string of what she was assuming were mando'a curses and snapped,"Why didn't you start off with that?! Where are you?"

Cel stopped as the field started coming into view, knowing she would be laughable easy to hit in the open, and ducked behind a tree. "Well I told you we had a situation,"she huffed,"And I'm in the tree line to the left of the ship."

She heard a gruff,"I'm on my way, stay put." So she grabbed her blaster and rocked side to side as the child started sniffling with his face pressed into her shirt. She kissed the top of his head and murmured,"Don't worry _pika_ , we'll be fine."

Cel pressed her back against the tree and slowly poked her head out, trying to see who was chasing them. As she scanned the dense woods she saw a few bushes about twenty feet away start to rustle and guy stepped out from them. He was a bit lanky, wearing minimal armor and holding a rifle. Cel felt herself relax a bit, she could take him. However her attention was drawn to the tracking fob sitting on his belt and she frowned in confusion.

Din had said that the child did have a bounty, but that it was gone now. She hugged him a bit closer.

While rifle guy started looking area a second figure stepped out from the bushes and Cel felt her eyes widened. He was weilding a net launcher, was much bigger, much more heavily armored, and was wearing a helmet that only showed his eyes and mouth. She pushed her lips together in annoyance, that guy might be more of a problem. Rifle guy pulled out the fob and started sweeping the area only to pause as it started blinking a bit more rapidly while pointing at the tree they were hiding behind. Tucking it back in his belt he wordlessly gestured to armor guy and they started moving forward.

Cel slid back behind the tree and muttered," _Szu'tak_." Whatever Din was planning on doing he needed to do it faster.

Cel cursed herself for leaving the lightsaber on the ship. She could easily cut through both these guys if she had it, but to be fair she definitely didn't think she would need it. Trying to think of something Cel figured her next best option would be try and get rifle guy down, that way she'd only have armor guy to deal with. It was risky, they both knew where she was hiding and would definitely hit her if she popped her head out, but as the steps got closer Cel decided _kunta_ it.

She placed the child on the ground, not wanting to risk him getting hit, and gave him a reassuring smile before grabbing a rock. Her plan was to throw it to the right of the tree, pop out the left and shoot rifle guy, then pop back behind it to grab the child, and just keep the tree between armor guy and them. Simple.

Cel rolled her shoulders, getting ready to throw the rock when blaster fire went off and she heard one of them cry out. With a smile tugging at her lips she poking her head out, and was surprised to see Din advancing towards net guy with his blasted drawn. She thought it would have made more sense for him to keep his distance or armor guy could just open fire. Unfortunately she was proven right, with Din having to duck behind a tree as armor guy dropped the launcher to pull out his blaster and started firing in his direction. Seizing the opportunity Cel ran towards the armor guy and jumped onto his back hearing him cry out in alarm. Without missing a beat she shoved her blaster in between his helmet and body armor, pressed it against his neck, and pulled the trigger a few times. 

As he collapsed she backed away before putting her blaster back in her holster and almost immediately had Din crowding her personal space. Reaching out to gently grab her shoulder he asked,"Are you okay?" Cel smiled up at him and nodded. She heard the child coo loudly as he stepped out from behind the tree and started towards them. Cel picked him up and gently rubbed at the top of his head as he reached out a hand towards Din, who reached back, and grabbed his finger. Cel let herself breath even as she kept an eye on the forest around them.

"Are there any more?" Din asked, scanning the area as well.

She shook her head,"As far as I'm aware these were the only two." With a frown tugging on her lips she said,"Din, they had a tracking fob. I think they were here for the kid."

He tensed slightly before saying,"That can't be possible. Greef would have told me if someone put a bounty out on him again."

Cel's frown grew as she tried to figure out what was going on. Before she could get to lost in thought Din gently brought his forehead against her's and said,"Why don't we head back to Nervarro and see if Greef can clear some things up." She gave a weak smile and nodded, which had him relaxing slightly until a groan sounded from behind him.

His body language changed in an instant, going from slightly hunched over and his shoulders drooping in relief, to spinning around and shoving Cel behind him as he drew himself to his full hight, his blaster already out. She poked her head out from around him to see rifle guy was still alive and had rolled himself onto his back, clutching his shoulder.

Din motioned for her to stay put then advanced on the guy, who seemed to startle as Din loomed over him with his blaster drawn. His eyes widened in fear and he held out a hand,crying out,"Wait! Wait! I'm sorry, I didn't know you were after the bounty to. You can have her." 

Cel felt her blood run cold. She was the target? How was that even possible? Who would have put a bounty out on her?

Din merely tilted his head and remained silent, but she could feel his own shock. The man continued,"I swear I didn't know they gave the bounty to anyone else or I would never had agreed to come along. You have to believe me." Shaking herself out of her stupor, Cel frowned at how young this guy sounded.

She carefully walked forward until she was side-by-side with Din and took a better look at his face. As she stared down at him she let out a slow breath and placed her hand on Din's arm, gently pushing until he lowered the blaster.

He was just a kid, about nineteen if she had to guess.

He had been rambling as she approached, but had quickly cut himself off as she came into view. His eyes followed her hand as it landed on Din's arm and a surprise look flickered across his face before understanding settled in his dark brown eyes. He dropped his hand and let out a sigh,"This was not the best choice for my first bounty, huh?"

"So it would seem,"she remarked and wordlessly handed the child to Din to crouched next to the guy. As Cel reached out he visibly recoiled which made her pause for a moment, before slowly moving forward again to grab the fob from his belt. She studied it for a minute as it started frantically beeping in here presence then handed it to Din, who crushed it beneath his boot.

After staring at him for a moment she asked,"Where did you get the bounty from?"

He shook his head,"I didn't get it. Boss got it, gave it to Graft, and Graft decided to drag me along. Said it would an easy first time,"he grimaced slightly,"Neither of them said anything about a mandalorian."

Cel hummed thoughtfully and looked to the other body. Turning back she gestured towards it and said,"I take it that's Graft?"

He nodded.

Tilting her head she asked,"Were you two close?"

He shook his head and rambled,"No. He was a dick. I never liked that guy."

Cel's lips twitched. "What's your name?"

He blinked, looking confused at the sudden change if subject,"Uh, Ardin. Ardin Lars."

She smiled and said,"Well Ardin, what's your plan?"

His confusion only seemed to grow,"Uhhh. To not die? Hopefully?"

She shook her head. "No, what I mean is, say we let you go, what will you do? Go back to your ship? Return to your group?"

He opened and closed his mouth a few times before sitting there with a frown. Finally he gave a little half-shrug,"I don't know. I uh, don't have a ship, and I...can't go back to my group." He looked around the forest and said,"I could probably just, ya know, hang around here. It looks nice enough."

Cel arched an eyebrow,"You're just going to 'hang out' here with a blaster wound? And what do you mean you can't go back? Why not?"

His eyes flickered around nervously if expecting someone to jump out at him. Giving another little half-shrug he said,"They won't take me back unless I have the bounty, which uh, probably isn't gonna happen any time soon."

Cel nodded slowly, then reached out to gently tap his chest and said,"Stay put. No moving okay?" He nodded frantically as Din loomed over him a bit more.

She smiled before standing up and started walking, gesturing to Din as she went, he never let Ardin out of his sight. Once they moved far enough away he said,"No."

"You didn't even hear what I have to say,"she said with a frown.

"I don't have to. Celeste he just tried to bring you in. He's not setting foot aboard the ship."

She frown, tossing a look over her shoulder at Ardin who was watching them warily. "Look, I get that, but he might be lying about the whole 'can't go back' thing. If this group really doesn't know about you that's an advantage I'd like to keep, so are best option is to bring him a long to keep an eye on him." Turning back to Din she hesitated before adding,"Plus, he's just a kid. What are we gonna do, just leave him here to die? Kill him?"

He just stared her down, and she could feel his disapproving look through the helmet. Shifting a bit closer she lowered her voice and said,"I also have this...feeling about him. It's hard to describe, but I know he's suppose to come with us. Please, Din." He stared at her for another moment before heaving out a sigh and grumbled"I'm not winning this, am I? Fine, but the second he even hints at being a threat to you or the kid he's gone."

She beamed at him,"Thank you. And don't worry, I'll be cautious with this and keep an eye on him."

Din only grunted and they both walked back to the kid, who seemed to shrink in on himself. Cel smiled reassuringly and crouched next to his injured shoulder looking it over. Her lips pushed into a frown as she carefully looked over the injury. His armor had done its job and taken the brunt of the damage, but there was still a noticeable wound that had already started bleeding. She stood back up and offered her hand.

He stared at it a moment, his eyes flickering nervously towards Din before slowly grabbing it with his non-injured hand. Pulling him up to his feet Cel told him,"Well it's your lucky day Ardin, we're not gonna kill you. If fact, you're gonna be coming with us."

His eyes widened and he was quick to stutter out,"Oh that's not--You can just, ya know, leave me here. I'll be fine."

Cel arched an eyebrow,"You'll be fine in the middle of nowhere, with an injured shoulder, no way to treat it, and nowhere to go?"

Ardin open and closed his mouth a few times before his shoulders slumped and his eyes dropped to his feet. She motioned for the child and Din handed him over, his visor still looked onto Ardin. With Cel leading the way, Adrin in the middle holding his shoulder, and Din taking up the back, the three made with way back to the ship.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Pika_ = Beloved, one you hold close to your heart  
>  _Numa_ = Sister  
>  _Szu'tak_ = Shit  
>  _Kunta_ = Fuck
> 
> One could argue that what Celeste was feeling was the force, and to that I say sure it could be, but it was more likely the will of the writer who came up with a whole storyline for this dude and damn it I needed him to come along somehow. Also fun fact: Ardin was a last minute addition to this fic. Orginally he was just going to be nameless face that dropped, but my brain Refuses To Stop making OCs so now he's along for the ride :D


	2. Where to next

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> About half way through writing this chapter my slow ass lizard brain pointed out that Ardin is just Ar+Din which was a complete accident, I got it from a random name generator, so I'm changing his name to Arn now.

Walking up the ship ramp and into the cargo bay Cel turned to the other two. Arn was still clutching his shoulder looking incredibly nervous, and Din was wordless staring at the back of his head. She motioned for Arn to sit down on a crate which he did slowly, his wide eyes sweeping over the interior of the ship. Turning to Din she nodded towards the ladder and walked over with him. Lowering her voice she told him,"You can started heading to Nervarro. I'm going to patch him up, and see what he knows. We'll meet you up there." 

He huffed,"You really think it's a good idea to be alone with him?"

Cel turned to look at Arn, who was watching them both nervously, but quickly snapped his head down and pretended like he hadn't been. Looking back at Din she said,"He's got an injured shoulder, and has nowhere to go, I highly doubt he'll try anything. Plus we need to get back in range of Nervarro as soon as possible so we can contact Greef and see if he knows anything about this."

Din hesitated then slowly nodded, reaching out to grab the child,"Fine. Just, be careful."

She smiled,"Of course." With a nod he climbed up the ladder, the child cooing and waving at her from his other arm. Cel waved back at him then went to fetch the med kit.

Arn eyed her warily as she approached, but she just placed the med kit on the crate and circled behind him to get a better look at his injury. Carefully peeling back the armor she frowned at the nasty looking blaster burn. He should consider himself lucky that Din hit armor and not direct flesh or he wouldn't be sitting here right now.

As the thrusters started up he half turned his head towards her, opening his mouth before shutting it and staring down again. Snapping on a pair of gloves she looked over the med kit for some numbing gel and said,"What is it?"

He tensed a little then flinched as it aggravated the burn. After a beat of silence he asked,"Where are we going?"

Cel grabbed the little jar of gel before answering,"Getting within range of some friends to see if they know anything about this bounty,"gently dabbing it over the injury she added,"Unless you know about it?"

He shook his head. "Like I said it was Grift's, he knew all the details about it. I was just along for the ride I guess."

She hummed in acknowledgement and switched out her gloves for clean ones. Grabbing a bacta patch Cel saw his head jerk back in surprise and he went ridged. Frowning she poked her head up to see what he was staring at and clicked her tounge at the sight of the child clinging to Arn's leg with a grin. "Now how did you get down here little one?" He just tilted his head a bit and wiggled his ears, the grin never leaving his face. Trying to keep a stern look on her face she asked,"Does your _korra_ know you're down here?" Which only made him giggle causing her to break, a wide smile sweeping across her face. Shaking her head she heard Arn ask,"Wh-what is it?"

Carefully lining up the patch and applying it she told him,"He's a baby."

Arn let out a huff and said,"Well obviously he's a baby,"then tensed again. "Uh, I mean I see that he's a baby. I meant what is he as in, what species."

Cel laughed softly as she started packing the med kit back up,"I know what you meant. We have no idea what species he is. Doesn't really matter to us." Clicking the kit shut she started walking back to the crate she grabbed it from, and saw the child was making uppy hands at Arn. He started reaching out, but quickly dropped his hands onto his lap once she came into view, muttering,"Sorry."

Cel walked over and scoped up the child, then turned and placed him on Arn's lap saying,"Nothing to apologize for. He loves meeting new people."

Arn stared at the child with his hands hovering in the air, as if unsure where to put them, and tossed a worried glance over to Cel. She arched an eyebrow at him and said,"Don't worry, he doesn't bite. At least, not if he likes you." Grabbing the kit again she walked over to the crate and placed it back. Taking a moment to look over the contents of it, she made a mental note to pick up more bacta patches next time they stopped somewhere.

Turning back she smiled at the sight of the child holding his silver ball up to Arn and excitedly babbling. Arn seemed a bit more relaxed, nodding occasionally and gently bouncing his leg. Cel leaned back on the crate and, found herself looking him over. He looked about 5'9, and was a bit lanky, at least from what she could tell he was. His curly black hair was cropped short, much like her own, and had brown eyes with a smattering of freckles across his face.

She smiled a bit wider as he accepted the ball from the child with a kind smile. There was something about him, she just couldn't quite put her finger on it. Hearing Din's muffled voice up top she figured this would be as good as time of any to see what Arn knew. Keeping her voice casual she asked,"You said that this group you're with wouldn't take you back without the bounty. Why?"

He looked at over at her in surprise, as if he had forgotten she was there. With a shrug he told her,"That's just how it is. One person takes the bounty and gets dropped off on the planet it's on. Then they need to bring it back to a certain area, within a certain time." He snapped his mouth shut as if he hadn't meant to say all that. His eyes shifted around nervously again before he quietly added,"They said it's their way of making sure they only have the strongest bounty hunters."

Frowning she said,"If you're supposed to get the bounty alone, how come you were with someone?" 

She felt a flicker of unease from him as he told her,"Lets just say I'm a special case." Before she could even begin to try and decipher that he suddenly blurted out,"So how did you start travelling with a mandolarian?"

She raised an eyebrow at the blatant attempt to change the subject, but decided to play along. Pulling herself up onto the crate she told him,"Well, I use to live on this farm close to a village."

He snorted,"You use to live on a farm?"

Frowning she said,"Yes, now hush I'm telling a story. So anyways the village came under attack from a group of nearby raiders, so we hired some mercenaries and one of them just so happened to be mando. One victory later I decided to go with him, I was getting tired of staying in one place for so long,"looking at the child with a smile she continued,"Plus he needed some help with the little one, and I was more then happy to look after him." It wasn't _exactly_ the truth but she couldn't tell him the real reason she had left.

Arn stared at her for a moment before frowning in confusion."That's it? You just so happened to meet him and he just let you tag along?"

Cel grinned." Yup."

He slumped slightly and muttered," Well that was a bit anticlimactic."

She laughed then asked him," What did you expect?"

"I don't know. You saved his life or something?"

She hummed thoughtfully. " Well I did save his life, but that was after we knew each other for a few weeks." He perked up considerably at that which had her grinning wider and launching into the tale, changing anything force related of course. The child settled on his lap facing her, both of them listening with wide eyes.

"Then I figured the only way to get them off mando, but also keep them out in the open, would be to do something they wouldn't expect. So I jump down and yelled hey, and it worked. They just stood there staring at me, probably wondering what the hell I was doing. Between mando and I we were able to kill all of them except for the bounty, who he cuffed." As Cel finished her story she heard the soft clank of Din descending from the ladder.

All three occupants looked towards him as he stepped off the ladder and turned to face them. He stared at Arn, who shrunk in on himself a bit, then looked down at the child on his lap before turning his helmet to Cel, who smiled reassuringly and nodded. Turning back to Arn he walked over to him and snapped out,"Where did you get the tracking fob from?"

He held up his hands with a panicked look on his face."I didn't get it from anyone. Boss gave it to Grift and Grift gave it to me so that he could carry the net launcher. I'm just a rookie man, they don't tell me anything."

Din tilted his head slightly. "Really? They didn't tell you anything at all?"

Arn hesitated before saying,"All boss told me was that we needed to bring her back alive."

Cel hopped off the crate and walked next to Din. "And he didn't know about mando?"

He shook his head and pressed his lips into a thin line. "I'm not sure how much the bounty is exactly, but I'm pretty sure it's a lot. Like _a lot_ , a lot. Boss wouldn't want to risk all those credits, so if knew you were with a mandalorian he would have sent a whole group after you."

Din stared at him for a moment then slowly nodded. Turning he motioned to Cel and they walked to the opposite end of the cargo bay. "Greef says he doesn't know anything about a bounty on you. Whoever put it out didn't go through the guild, which is going to make it difficult to track them down." He shifted a bit closer and asked,"Is there anyone you can think of who would have put it out?"

Her brow furrowed in concentration as she sorted through her memories.

There was the battle against the raiders, she had used the lightsaber so that definitely would have turned some heads. However they were on an isolated planet pretty far from the nearest star port and she was pretty sure they wiped out all of them. Sure, maybe one or two escaped, but they wouldn't have been able to drop a bounty on her.

There was the time she had saved Din, but they had killed everyone except the bounty and he was currently taking a nice long carbon nap. Even if he had been unthawed, for whatever reason, and started telling people about a jedi they would probably brush it off as either carbon sickness, or the desperate ramblings of a man trying to lie his way to freedom.

The only other incident that came to mind was the one with the pirates, but they wouldn't have put out a bounty. Pirates mostly operate within a certain area, and this group had been rather small so they probably just stuck to Nervarro. If they had been unable to locate her on the planet they would have just given up. They were probably to busy trying to rebuild to go after her anyways.

At the thought of pirates Cel suddenly remembered what the leader guy had said, about there being some buyer who had been intrested in her. She rubbed her forehead in annoyance and wondered just how the hell she had forgotten about that.

Well, actually Cel did know how she had forgotten that. Between passing out after the escape/rescue, waking up to Din's confession, and spending the past two weeks feeling like she was floating on cloud nine, pirates had been the last thing on her mind.

"The pirates,"she said with a grimace,"I think they're our best bet at finding a lead. The leader one was saying that they grabbed me for a buyer."

Din stepped closer and she felt a flicker of shock from him. "They grabbed you on purpose?"

She nodded.

"Did they know you were a-,"he cut himself off and tilted his helmet towards Arn before continuing,"Did they know?"

She shook her head,"Not until after I escaped."

Cel tossed a look over to Arn, who was busy pretending to be occupied with the child. She supposed that begged the question, did he know she was a jedi? Cel doubted it. Not only had Arn not said anything about it at all, but if what he said about his boss was true, about not wanting to risk the credits, then she would have been facing down way more guys. Which means whoever set out the bounty didn't know she was a jedi. However that brought up an entirely new question, why go after her at all? If they didn't know she was a jedi what was the point of all this effort?

Din must have sensed her racing thoughts as he crowded into her personal space and gently rested his hand on her arm telling her,"It's gonna be okay. We don't have to go after them right now. We could settle somewhere for a few weeks and think this through. What do you want to do? It's your call."

She pushed her lips together and thought about it. They could run, find some nice backwater planet to settle on for the next month or so and hope this all blows over. That was of course assuming this _would_ all blow over. If they got really lucky they might get a few peaceful months, but she knew that if this bounty really was as much as Arn said it was she was going to be dealing with it for the rest of her life. It would be better to track it down now, with a fresh trail to follow, which meant Nervarro was their best bet. "Back to Nervarro." She told him,"The pirates are our only lead right now. If we can grab one, alive, I can get them to tell me everything. We can meet up with Greef and Cara, and figure out where to go from there."

He nodded and gave one last look over to Arn before gently resting his head against hers then turned and climbed up the ladder. Cel felt a smile tug at her lips, despite the stress. After he was up she turned and walked back to the other two. Looking at Arn she crossed her arms and calmly asked,"So how much of that did you overhear?"

She felt a mix of guilt and panic from him as he was quick to stutter out,"I didn't--I wasn't--" She only arched an eyebrow at him. His shoulder slumped and he said,"I heard something about pirates, and a planet called Nervarro."

She nodded slowly and pulled herself onto the crate opposite them telling him,"Yes, we have a possible lead back on that planet. I had an unfortunate incident with some pirates a few weeks back, but they're the only lead we have so we'll have to go back." He wordlessly stared at her with wide eyes, but she could feel the unasked question hanging in the air. With a smile tugging at her lips she tucked her legs beneath her and started telling him the story as they shot towards Nervarro.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Korra_ = Father


End file.
